Cabezo Gordo - Protected Area

The Cabezo Gordo itself is a mountain of marble, which towers above the plains of Torre Pacheco (less than an hour drive from La Manga) and was mined extensively for both stone and minerals until 1917. There are the famous Sima de las Palomas archaeological excavations in the Cabezo Gordo, Dolores de Pacheco and every year they hold an open day for the public to visit and assist with cleaning the area.

This special site has valuable human remains which date back to the Neanderthal period, 40-60,000 years ago, but has also yielded remains dating back to the inter-glacial period of 120,000-130,000 years BC, which it is believed may belong to the Pre-neanderthal forebears, the Homo heidelbergensis. Over 150 individual fossilized human remains have been discovered, which belong to 8 or 9 individuals, and some extremely important remains have been discovered which seem to belong to individuals who may have been buried during a rock fall whilst inside the caves. There are also bones from lions, panthers, hippopotamus, hyenas, rhinos, horses, tortoises, rabbits and birds, all of which lived in this area. There are also many tools which would have been used by our distant ancestors in the course of their daily lives for hunting, fishing, and processing their prey.